Westwood Gallery NYC
Skip to main content
  • Menu
  • Artists
  • Exhibitions
  • Art Fairs
  • Research & Projects
  • Publications
  • News
  • Press
  • About
Cart
0 items £
Checkout

Item added to cart

View cart & checkout
Continue shopping
Menu

Lucien Clergue: The Testament of Orpheus, 1959

Past exhibition
18 Nov 2011 - 28 Jan 2012
  • Artworks
  • Press release
  • Press
Artworks
  • Black and white photograph of Jean Cocteau wearing coat and scarf in his garden and pinching the nose of a classical statue
    Lucien Clergue, Jean Cocteau in his garden, Milly-la-Forêt, 1959
  • Black and white photograph of Jean Cocteau in a suit looking to the right with a dark shadow framing his left side
    Lucien Clergue, Jean Cocteau, port of Villefranche-sur-Mer, 1959
  • Black and white photograph of Luis Miguel Dominguín, Jacqueline Picasso, Pablo Picasso, and Jean Cocteau behind barbed wire all looking in different directions
    Lucien Clergue, Luis Miguel Dominguín, Jacqueline Picasso, Pablo Picasso, Jean Cocteau, Serge Lifar and Lucia Bosé, Testament of Orpheus, Les Baux-de-Provence, 1959
  • black and white photograph of Jean Cocteau and Yul Brynner between film takes
    Lucien Clergue, The Poet (Jean Cocteau) and The Bailiff (Yul Brynner) between takes, on the set of Testament of Orpheus, Les Baux de Provence, 1959
  • Black and white photograph of Jean Cocteau dressed in the style of an 18th century nobleman wearing a hat, looking to the left into a film camera
    Lucien Clergue, Jean Cocteau on the camera, Studios de La Victorine, Nice, 1959
  • Black and white photograph of Catherine Hutin-Blay, Jean Cocteau, Pablo Picasso outside looking to the right next to two shirtless men wearing polka dot swimming shorts
    Lucien Clergue, Catherine Hutin-Blay, Jean Cocteau, Pablo Picasso and the dog-men, Testament of Orpheus, Villa St. Sospir, St. Jean Cap Ferrat, 1959
  • Black and white photograph of “The Oracle” puppet, a bright white figure against buildings ruins
    Lucien Clergue, The Oracle, Testament of Orpheus, Les Baux-de-Provence, 1959
  • Black and white photograph of Jean Cocteau sleeping on the ground as a black horse looks down at him
    Lucien Clergue, Jean Cocteau in the Testament of Orpheus, Les Baux-de-Provence, 1959
  • Black and white photograph of Jean Cocteau with feather wings and glass eyes, staring up and to the right in front of a mountain
    Lucien Clergue, Jean Cocteau as The Poet and the Sphinx, Testament of Orpheus, Val d’Enfer, Les Baux-de-Provence, 1959
  • Black and white photograph of Jean Cocteau outside sitting and holding his self-portrait done on a black canvas with a white outline of his face
    Lucien Clergue, Jean Cocteau and his Self-Portrait, Studios de la Victorine, Nice, 1959
  • Black and white photograph of Jean Cocteau outside in a garden holding a sign that reads “133” and Edouard Dermithein skull makeup looking at him in the background
    Lucien Clergue, Jean Cocteau as the Poet and Edouard Dermithe as Cegestius, Testament of Orpheus, Studios de la Victorine, Nice, 1959
  • Black and white photograph of Henri Crémieux in a white coat lighting a cigarette for Jean Cocteau dressed as the poet in 18th-century nobleman costume
    Lucien Clergue, Henri Crémieux as the Professor and Jean Cocteau as the Poet in Testament of Orpheus, Studios de la Victorire, Nice, 1959
  • Black and white photograph of Jean Cocteau standing in front of a Sainte-Blaise chapel wall, decorated with an outline of a face and a vertical row of flowers.
    Lucien Clergue, Jean Cocteau in the chapel Sainte Blaise, Milly-la-Forêt, photo 1959 | printed 1988
  • Black and white photograph of Jean Cocteau holding a flower and sitting at an empty table with an empty flower pot with Edouard Dermith with skeleton makeup standing behind him
    Lucien Clergue, Jean Cocteau and Edouard Dermithe, Testament of Orpheus, St. Jean Cap Ferrat, 1959
  • Black and white photograph of Jean Cocteau holding a light in a dark room and looking up to the left
    Lucien Clergue, Jean Cocteau bursts the bubble, Testament of Orpheus, Studios de la Victorine, Nice, 1959
  • Black and white photograph of Jean Cocteau lying on a sheet outside lined with bricks between two horse-monster shadows which curve into Cocteau’s body
    Lucien Clergue, Jean Cocteau and the horse-men, Testament of Orpheus, Les Baux-de-Provence, 1959
  • Black and white photograph of Jean Cocteau having his makeup applied to one eye
    lucien clergue, Jean Cocteau, Les Baux de Provence, 1959 [printed 1996]
  • Black and white photograph of Jean Cocteau in costume standing between two humanoid horse figures
    lucien clergue, Testament of Orpheus de Jean Cocteau, Les Baux de Provence, 1959 [printed 2010]
  • Black and white photograph of Jean Cocteau with glass eyes lying down on a wrinkled bed sheet with smoke coming out of his mouth
    Lucien Clergue, Jean Cocteau in the Testament of Orpheus, Les Baux-de-Provence, 1959
  • Black and white photograph of Jean Cocteau standing in grass with his hands against a wall of a building
    Lucien Clergue, Jean Cocteau as the Poet discovers the gypsy camp, Quarries at Les Baux-de-Provence, 1959
  • Black and white photograph of Luis Miguel Dominguín, Jacqueline Picasso, and Pablo Picasso in a room sitting behind barbed wire
    Lucien Clergue, Luis Miguel Dominguín, Jacqueline and Pablo Picasso, Lucia Bosé, les Baux-de-Provence, 1959
  • Black and white photograph of closeup of Jean Marais with bleeding eyes looking up to the left and holding a pole as Oedipus
    Lucien Clergue, Oedipus with gouged out eyes, Testament of Orpheus, Les Baux-de-Provence, 1959
  • Black and white photograph of Jean Cocteau holding a rag up over his head and standing outside over a flower pot-
    Lucien Clergue, Jean Cocteau and the hibiscus flower, Testament of Orpheus, Studios de la Victorine, Nice, 1959
  • Black and white photograph of Edouard Dermit, Claude Pinoteau and Jean Cocteau filming a scene outside with a large spotlight pointed down over them
    Lucien Clergue, Testament of Orpheus, the final scene with Edouard Dermithe, Claude Pinoteau and Jean Cocteau, Route de l’Artubie, 1959
  • Black and white photograph of Jean Cocteau in an 18th-century nobleman costume looking into a camera with members of the film crew looking behind him
    Lucien Clergue, Jean Cocteau in Louis XV costume on the camera, Testament of Orpheus, Studios de la Victorine, Nice, 1959
Press release

In 1959 Clergue captured historic and artistic photographs on the set of Jean Cocteau's last film Testament of Orpheus (Le testament d'Orphée). The images evoke the creative personality of one of France's foremost 20th century intellectuals, Jean Cocteau, writer, artist and filmmaker. Clergue documented the atmosphere on the set of the landmark, seminal film. Among Cocteau's collaborators represented are Pablo Picasso, Yul Brynner and Jean Marais. Photographer Lucien Clergue, a close friend of Cocteau, was only 25 at the time; he documented the making of the film. In the words of Cocteau, "You are free to do as you please, I look forward to being surprised by your photos. They will reveal something different from my film."

​

Testament of Orpheus (Le testament d'Orphée), directed and starring Jean Cocteau, represents the third part of his Orphic Trilogy and is Cocteau's last film, following The Blood of a Poet (1930) and Orphée (1950). The black-and-white film includes a few seconds of color, and portrays the quest for divine wisdom of an 18th century poet, played by Mr. Cocteau himself. In a mysterious wasteland, The Poet meets several symbolic characters that bring about his death and resurrection. Testament of Orpheus brings full circle the exploration of the complex relationship between the artist and his creations. With an eclectic cast, including Jean Marais, Charles Aznavour, Jean-Pierre Léaud, Serge Lifar, Françoise Sagan as well as cameo appearances by Yul Brynner and Pablo Picasso, the film represents a retrospective of Cocteau's life and work as examined by the artist himself, and is, in Cocteau's own words, "simply a machine for creating meanings".

 

Lucien Clergue

For over fifty years, Lucien Clergue has been an independent photographer, known for his thirty year association with Picasso, as well as other creators,including Edward Steichen, Jean Cocteau, Max Ernst, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Doisneau, Salvador Dali, Jean Renoir, Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, André Kertész, Marcel Breuer, Roman Polanski, Umberto Eco, Robert Rauschenberg, and many other artistic individuals. Lucien Clergue's talent also extended to music–as a child violinist he was inspired by the rhythm, melodic quality and sometimes haunting effect of music. In the early 1950s in Arles, France, where Clergue was born, he photographed gypsy families and met Jose Reyes of The Gipsy Kings and his cousin, flamenco guitarist, Manitas de Plata. For many years Clergue teamed with the singer and guitarist and traveled the duo around the world with performances at landmarks such as Carnegie Hall. Clergue also directed a film, Delta de sel with music by Manitas de Plata, which was nominated for an academy award and went on to create and direct numerous art-related films (Picasso, War, Love and Peace, 1968, produced by Universal Pictures). The subjects of Clergue's photographs have spanned the decades capturing extraordinary images of Saltimbanques, undulating nudes, intimate portraits of Picasso, Cocteau, Hockney, reflective images, the bullfight, death-related concepts, and experimental fine art photographs. Clergue's photographs are in the collection of over 60 well-known museums and private collectors. His photographs have been exhibited in over 100 solo exhibitions worldwide, with noted exhibitions such as Museum of Modern Art New York.

Press
  • Lucien Clergue at Westwood Gallery

    Elizabeth Wilson, ARTnews, 1 Mar 2012
  • The New Jean Cocteau Museum Gives The Protean Artist His Due

    Lucien Clergue photographs the legendary filmmaker
    Michael Kurcfeld, Huffington Post, 3 Jan 2012
  • Lucien Clergue & Jean Cocteau

    Testament of Orpheus, Photographs from 1959
    Ed Barnas, New York Photo Review, 1 Dec 2011
  • Clergue Captures Cocteau

    Valerie Gladstone, City Arts, 29 Nov 2011
  • Goings on About Town: Art

    Lucien Clergue
    The New Yorker, 18 Nov 2011
  • Lucien Clergue, Jean Cocteau: Testament of Orpheus

    NYC Go, 18 Nov 2011

Related artist

  • Lucien Clergue

    Lucien Clergue

Back to exhibitions
Privacy Policy
Accessibility Policy
Manage cookies
© 2025 Westwood Gallery NYC
Site by Artlogic
Instagram, opens in a new tab.
Facebook, opens in a new tab.
Artnet, opens in a new tab.

This website uses cookies
This site uses cookies to help make it more useful to you. Please contact us to find out more about our Cookie Policy.

Manage cookies
Accept

Cookie preferences

Check the boxes for the cookie categories you allow our site to use

Cookie options
Required for the website to function and cannot be disabled.
Improve your experience on the website by storing choices you make about how it should function.
Allow us to collect anonymous usage data in order to improve the experience on our website.
Allow us to identify our visitors so that we can offer personalised, targeted marketing.
Save preferences